[accessibleimage] Re: Using Braille in art work

    Hi Barry,

Have you thought of surrounding the standard size and standard spaced
braille with fancy tactile borders, at a good enough distance so they don't
interfere with the braille reading process, but close enough so they can't
be avoided when touching? Have you thought about slanting different lines of
braille at slightly different angles from the horizontal, to conform with
the rest of the art piece, but not so much that the braille is clumsy to
read?

Just some ideas.

Best,

Sylvie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barry Kleider" <bkleider@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2006 9:33 AM
Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Using Braille in art work


Lisa, Judi, Chris, John, Alan (and all)

Thanks so much for all your thoughts and ideas about the ways adapted
Braille works for the sighted audience (and leaves the blind clueless.)

I especially got a chuckle out of the six-foot tall unreachable cells...

Our purpose is to create an art piece which gets both sighted people and
those with vision loss thinking about the world around them. About the
ordinary objects in our world. About WHY we can't find the car keys....

Words, street signs, signs on stores, ads in magazines, etc. TEXT is
everywhere. Even walking in the woods, you find trail signs (and feel
lost without them.) Because text is so ubiquitous, we stop being aware
of it - both its design and its function.

So, we want to incorporate text into the graphic image of the piece. We
want to do this in a way which gets people thinking about how letters
congeal into words, how words congeal into sentences, how sentences
congeal into ideas.

We plan to incorporate Braille because the whole piece is going to be
tactual.  We want the text to be functional. We want the Braille to be
functional also.  But we want to do it in a way that will also be
thought-provoking.

How to do that??? It's as much an artistic question as it is a technical
question about cell size and dot height.

Just as I want sighted people to have to stop a moment and be aware of
the written text (as both an object of information AND a visual design)
I want Braille users to have some fun with reading the Braille.

Ideas????

Barry










Lisa Yayla wrote:

>Hi Barry,
>You have really started an interesting discussion.
>You have mentioned that it will be a cooperation between visual art
>students and students from the school for the blind.
>I graduated from a design school so I am guessing that your visual art
>students will want to play around with the Braille. Some will think about
>the legality of the Braille while others won't at that point. It's a
>learning process.  What ever the result, it is a great way to inform the
>general public, make them more aware.
>I remember being told many years ago as a student by a visiting
>illustrator who made books for the blind.  Before the illustrator started
>speaking I remember thinking  that it sounded really interesting. However
>the illustrator soon burst my balloon of enthusiasm by saying to the
>effect that illustrations for the blind  should only be made up of very
>simple forms eg people should be represented just as a circle.
>Braille is a font and like any other font can be played around with. The
>result is legibility or not, but then the purpose might  be to be
>decorative.  Here the question then is does the Braille work  as a
>decorative element or not, for a touch  reader and/or for a visual reader.
>This is also a question a graphic designer would ask about text he/she is
>playing around with  in a design. The text might be there purely there for
>decorative purposes.
>The debate about function or form is a long one.
>It is great that you will be working with art students, increasing their
>awareness.
>That's my 2 cents.
>Best,
>Lisa
>
>
>accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx skriver:
>
>
>>G'day Barry,
>>This is a problem lots of sighted people (including me) have in relation
>>to getting into the "head-space" (finger-space?) of vision impaired
>>persons, especially concerning graphics.
>>
>>If you need the braille to be functional, i.e. able to be read by a
>>touch reader you can't really mess with it as it becomes illegible (or
>>should that be untouchable!!) very quickly. Remember that the size and
>>spacing of braille has been optimised to be able to be read by a finger
>>and not ones eyes.
>>There are devices in the braille codes that indicate different
>>type-faces (italic etc) and the code we now use here (UEB) can show
>>italic, underlined, and bold. However, the actual braille cell doesn't
>>change in orientation or dimension.
>>
>>If you mean the braille for sighted persons you can do whatever you like
>>but don't assume it will be touch readable. One of our art galleries in
>>Canberra has braille that's about 6 feet high on the outside of the
>>building 6 feet in the air which gave us a bit of a giggle when we saw
>>it ... very useful!!!! I suppose it does advertise the fact to the
>>sighted that braille exists. Another good one was a request for 32 point
>>braille for an advertising flyer (real braille, not braille in print!!)
>>Make the braille braille and the graphic a graphic I reckon <smile>
>>(unless you add an explanation to be read first, in proper braille, of
>>what all the funny dots are in the picture.)
>>Alan
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris
>>Hofstader
>>Sent: Friday, 6 January 2006 2:24 AM
>>To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Using Braille in art work
>>
>>While I firmly support artistic freedom, I disagree on playing with
>>Braille
>>characters if you want to be understood by Braille readers.  Just
>>changing
>>the size makes one wonder if they are on the correct line of text or if
>>they
>>are combining two lines.  One of the reasons that refreshable Braille
>>displays are so expensive is the precision with which the holes must be
>>drilled for the dots.  Very strong Braille readers are the most likely
>>to
>>complain as they are looking for a certain feel and any notable change
>>to
>>that will slow them down rather profoundly.
>>
>>This is why we invented "Vari-Braille" at Freedom Scientific.  It lets
>>the
>>user specify in grams per square centimeter or pounds per square inch
>>how
>>"strong" they want their Braille dots.  When we first introduced it, I
>>thought it was a marketing gimmick but later found that a lot of people
>>like
>>using it.  People who mostly read Braille on paper like a softer dot,
>>people
>>who grew up with refreshable displays prefer harder dots.  Go figure.
>>
>>I've really come off as pretty cranky these past two days.  I'm sorry
>>for
>>that.  I am working on a grant proposal, an article for AccessWorld and
>>a
>>book chapter all at once (at least my position paper for CHI 2006 is
>>done)
>>and I've been waking at 5:30 and writing pretty much non-stop all day.
>>
>>So, if anyone will be at ATIA or CHI this year, please find me so I can
>>buy
>>you a cup of coffee.
>>
>>Enjoy,
>>cdh
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>[mailto:accessibleimage-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Judi
>>Piscitello
>>Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 10:00 AM
>>To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Subject: [accessibleimage] Re: Using Braille in art work
>>
>>Hi Barry!
>>
>>What an exciting concept!  And Braille Awareness Month is a great time
>>to send this concept into flight!  On the conventional side of braille
>>art you'll find Marie Porter's Braillables - attached, if the list
>>accepts attachments.  However, since art is by nature creative, allowing
>>abstract representations, I believe that you could be quite daring in
>>using "artistic license" with braille or any other tacile medium to
>>express whatever concepts you wish to share, including the use of
>>various size (and color) dots for braille, Moon Type
>>http://www.bsblind.co.uk/full/moon/moontype.htm, Boston Line Type,
>>New York Point, etc.  I say, "Celebrate braille and other tactile
>>expressive media, and go for it!"
>>
>>- Judi Piscitello, TVI, COMS
>>Jpiscite@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Assistant, Training of Special Educators
>>NYS School for the Blind Outreach Department
>>2A Richmond Avenue
>>Batavia, NY 14020
>>(585) 343-5384 ext. 427
>>FAX (585) 343-0652
>>http://www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/nyssb/resource.htm
>>"The most important thing in this life is helping others to win, even
>>if that means slowing down and changing our own race." - Author
>>Unknown
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>>>bkleider@xxxxxxxxxx 01/05/06 9:19 AM >>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>Dear listers:
>>
>>I'd like to start a discussion about Braille representation in art.
>>
>>I understand that there are some strict conventions about the way the
>>Braille cells are represented in text books and public signage. I'm
>>wondering if anyone has experience using Braille in making art.
>>
>>Specifically, I'm working with a group of blind, low-vision and sighted
>>
>>students. Our project is to create a tactual mural. The mural will also
>>
>>contain text elements and Braille.
>>
>>As part of this project, we've been looking at the ways text gets used
>>
>>in commercial signage - the way letters get stylized for logos and
>>advertising. I'm wondering if this ever happens with Braille? Of
>>course,
>>we want the Braille cells to be readable.  The question I've been asked
>>
>>is, 'how much are we allowed to bend the rules in the service of making
>>
>>art?' (For example, could we create a bold-faced or an italicized
>>Braille? Could we change the shape of the dots to create another sort
>>of
>>Braille font?) We'll also be doing this with our printed text.
>>
>>The intent is to have fun with language and get people thinking about
>>the ways we communicate.
>>
>>Like an art installation you would find at a museum, we will make a
>>sign
>>explaining the piece. I expect to create signage using regular Braille
>>
>>describing what we've done and why.
>>
>>Do you have any tips for us?
>>
>>FYI, by spring, there will be three tactual public art pieces in
>>Minnesota, USA.
>>
>>Barry Kleider,
>>Minneapolis, Minnesota
>>
>>
>
>
>Lisa Yayla
>Huseby Kompetansesenter
>Oslo Norway
>lisa.yayla@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
>
>
>

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